Simon held the insect egg in one hand and approached the Little Knight.
The Little Knight was originally sleeping with his head down, his short legs dangling in the air, not quite reaching the ground. As Simon drew near, he lifted his head, jumped off the chair, and prepared to listen.
Before speaking, Simon gently stroked his mask. The mottled texture gave him a sense of warm stability. He then said, "Friend, The Radiance's seal must be broken. Have you already freed one of the Dreamers?"
The Little Knight shook his head.
"Then have you defeated the Broken Vessel in the Ancient Basin?"
This time, the Little Knight nodded.
"Good. Next, you should go to Kingdom's Edge to find the king's brand. Once you have the brand, you can come to the Mantis Tribe to find me. I will lead the Fools to clear Deepnest, paving the way for you so you can easily find Herrah the Beast... Oh, and before you go to find Monomon the Teacher, be sure to come see me!"
Simon calculated in his mind that by absorbing Herrah, they could complete the task of preserving one team, and after absorbing Monomon, he would have Quirrel lead another team to evacuate. This way, they could complete the mission of preserving Hallownest's embers before the seal was completely shattered.
He briefly explained the plan to the Little Knight, making sure that the Little Knight would not absorb Lurien the Watcher along the way.
The Little Knight nodded, indicating cooperation, very well-behaved, and immediately planned to set off for Kingdom's Edge.
As he walked away, Simon watched his small figure and couldn't help but call out, "You actually have feelings, don't you?"
The Little Knight's footsteps paused for a moment, then continued forward.
Simon sighed. It was most painful for a tool, inherently indoctrinated with obedience, to develop independent consciousness, because all suffering comes from thought.
These things couldn't salvage anything. Simon immediately set about preparing his own plan.
...
Before setting off, Simon called Sly, and they rode a Stag Beetle together to Crossroads.
They first went to find the Merchant Bugs tribe. Many infected creatures had already appeared here, making the already sparse tribe even more desolate. After hearing Simon's plan, more than half of the Merchant Bugs decided to evacuate Hallownest. A small portion of the older ones, who were truly unable to make the long journey, decided to go to Deepnest. The Merchant Bugs tribe wholeheartedly supported Simon's plan, contributing money and effort, hiring Sly, and preparing all food and water supplies for the journey.
Simon asked them to contact more bugs, so that those who wanted to survive would gather in the Merchant Bugs village, to be escorted by Sly to Dirtmouth.
Afterward, Simon went to attend the Maintenance Grub meeting. According to the meeting cycle, this meeting was held in Greenpath, a place neither too far nor too close.
The Stag Beetle was commandeered by the Little Knight, so Simon could only walk to Greenpath.
The distance from Crossroads to Greenpath was not far, passing through one of the most core areas of Crossroads.
In the giant well-like cavern, numerous suspended cargo platforms hung in the air, surrounded by building materials and tools. There were countless passages on the four walls, making it easy to imagine how bustling it must have been in its busy past, with goods and swarms of bugs coming and going like a pumping heart, delivering blood to all parts of Crossroads.
The path to Greenpath was in the center of one wall, wider than the other passages, and plants protruded from within.
Entering the passage, there was a bridge, with a notice board at the bridgehead.
"Pilgrim's Way
Traveler of Hallownest, pass through the verdant wilderness and mushroom forests to the city in the heart of the kingdom.
There, hopes will come true, and truths will be revealed."
This was precisely the starting point of the Pilgrim's Way, and its destination was the City of Tears.
Simon crossed the bridge and entered Greenpath, immediately feeling the refreshing green aura. Like the Queen's Gardens, this place was covered in vegetation, but the plants here were more delicate and fine than those in the Gardens, without many large and rough plants, mostly moss, vines, and herbaceous plants.
These delicate but tenacious small plants formed continuous patches, freely weaving through the gaps in steel and stone, displaying their unrestrained and vibrant vitality.
This place was full of acid lakes, but fortunately, there were many wide bridges and platforms. Leisurely mask birds rested on the platforms; the mask-like bones naturally on their heads gave them a certain humanity, making them seem solemn like a group of eternal observers.
Looking around, one could see many spherical, spiral-leafed stone carvings on the cave walls, vaguely visible among the plants, resembling fruits from a distance. Everywhere on the platforms were simple, round pillars, like a crowd standing in reverence, very solemn. These were all traces left by the bug tribe that built Greenpath.
The light in Greenpath was relatively bright. Of course, it was dimmer than in the Gardens, but much better than Crossroads. Most of this light was provided by streetlights, and places far from the streetlights would appear somewhat dim, but overall, the streetlights here were quite sufficient, and the glow of the plants made the colors here bright and cheerful, making it feel subjectively brighter.
So many streetlights must be very troublesome to maintain.
Simon stood on a finely carved platform, looking down at the bubbling acid water below. Suddenly, there was a rustling sound from the dense bushes behind him, as if a giant beast had suddenly charged, its footsteps rumbling.
Simon turned and saw a huge ball of grass, more than twice his height, crashing towards him with a frantic momentum. In front of the grass ball were a pair of orange-red eyes, making it truly look like a giant beast attacking Simon.
Simon swung a nail, striking the grass ball.
Immediately, the grass ball burst apart into a shower of flying leaves, and a small, round-eyed bug frantically fled, using the leaves as cover, burrowing into the bushes with a series of arches.
This was a Moss Charger, essentially a timid little bug, but when it donned its plant disguise, it would bravely charge at all outsiders. Simon's mood for enjoying the scenery was disturbed, so he no longer lingered and followed the map towards the meeting place.
On the way, he encountered several Squits, a type of mosquito-like flying insect that could dive at prey with their needle-sharp beaks. Simon unhurriedly waited for them to charge before striking them dead with a single nail.
There were also Mosskin and Volatile Mosskin, both plant-like bugs. The former attacked enemies by charging, while the latter, swollen from infection, would spray deadly gas.
Mosskin often started charging as soon as they saw Simon from a distance, running a few steps before falling, rolling into a ball, then laboriously righting themselves to charge again. They were very cute, and Simon couldn't bear to kill them unless they were truly blocking the way.
However, Volatile Mosskin were very, very not cute. Despite being the same creature, the difference before and after infection was astonishing. Mosskin resembled small, grayish-green lambs, while Volatile Mosskin looked like rotten, festering plague-ridden mutton, with orange-red pustules bulging under their skin, dense and numerous, resembling water balloons, very disgusting.
Simon directly flung Soul Orbs to send them to their demise. The corpses of these Volatile Mosskin would also explode, emitting a strange, sweet-smelling gas that was quite appetizing. However, Simon had no intention of tasting it.
Winding and turning, he encountered many unique creatures along the way, such as a plant lifeform called a Gulka, which looked like a clump of green vegetables and would spit thorny projectiles at enemies from a distance. When enemies approached, it would retract to protect itself, similar to the Spore Shrooms in Fungal Wastes, but its thorny projectiles didn't explode, making it more like a Peashooter in that regard.
The winding and difficult path eventually led Simon to the meeting place.
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